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Buffalo Soldiers
The 1889 photograph of Buffalo Soldier scouts includes then employed and retired members of the Seminole "Black Indian" nation, a large number whom worked for the U.S. army after earlier being employed in the Mexican army. The Seminoles originally came from Florida, where they were a branch of the Creek nation, distinguished from other Creeks in their acceptance of runaway African slaves who had toiled in the British colonies that became the U.S. The initial Blacks within the Seminole villages were bound to work for the Seminoles in a relationship that was described as slavery without whips, chains, and with right of the bondspeople to farm their own land. By the time of the 1835-1838 Second Seminole War, during which United States tried to conquor the Seminoles, they were a largely mixed race nation in which those of African heritage took many important decision making positions. Dembo Factor, one of the Black Seminoles who fought in that war is in the above photo. He is the elderly gentleman with the white beard.
The 1835-1838 war ended with the Black Indians reluctantly agreeing to leave Florida and settle in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. During the 1840s they were harassed by other Indian nations of the territory who considered the Seminoles to be Blacks and subject to capture and sale to whites. Around 1850 the Seminoles began exploring the Mexico/Texas border region with the hope of resettling in Mexico where slavery had been abolished in 1829 by decree of Vicente Guerrero. The first efforts of the Seminoles to resettle were unsuccessful. The Mexico/Texas border area was controlled by the natives of the area, the Comanche nation, which was opposed to all outsiders. The Seminoles developed methods of fighting off the Comanches and settlements were created in the Mexican state of Coahuila. In 1856 Mexican President Commonfort hired Seminole fighters to protect Coahuila and other border areas from Comanches, and also from the raids by white outlaws from the United States.
After the U.S. Civil War and the abolition of slavery, many Seminoles returned to the U.S. where their "Indian fighting" abilities were acknowledged, and they became soldiers in the U.S. Army. The Indians gave them the name "Buffalo Soldiers" because the matted African hair resembled the matted hair of buffalos. Veterans of the Civil War and other non-Seminole African Americans were also in Indian fighting U.S. army contingents known as "Buffalo Soldiers."
Black Seminoles have continued to live along the Rio Grande river. A notable Mexican Seminole town in Coahuila is named Nacimiento de los Negros.